Duke is No. 1 in the country, but the team that the Blue Devils meet Wednesday night is tops in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Duke goes to Miami for a matchup with the No. 25 Hurricanes, who are the only team in the ACC without a conference loss.

“We like where we are,” Miami coach Jim Larranaga said. “It’s only four games. We play 18 of them. If there were only four games left, that would be a different story.”

Neither team played during the weekend, so there has been idle time. This marks the first game out of state for Duke since a Dec. 8 game against Temple at East Rutherford, N.J.

There’s a sell-out crowd for this game.

“I don’t think there’s any question there has been a huge buzz (about this game),” Larranaga said. “I’ve had to turn down friends. Now I don’t even have tickets myself. …

“We have a lot of people talking about our basketball program right now and we’re headed in the right direction.”

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said the Blue Devils are accustomed to playing in front of fired-up crowds from past seasons.

“We always have a good atmosphere wherever we play,” he said. “People down there should be excited about their team. … Every game that we play in, there’s a good atmosphere.”

Both teams are coping with reduced personnel. Injuries to Duke’s Ryan Kelly and Miami’s Reggie Johnson have given the teams different makeups.

The Blue Devils used the time off from games to work on more ways to compensate for the absence of Kelly, who’s out indefinitely with a foot injury.

“As you go along, you’re going to be a little more familiar with one another,” Krzyzewski said of the new combinations. “(Opponents) can look at more ways of stopping Mason (Plumlee) and Seth (Curry) with Ryan out, and that makes it more difficult for us to score.”

Miami’s defense has been splendid at times during the start of conference play.